Can People Please Stop Getting Plastic Surgery to Look Like Ivanka Trump?

The trend toward celebrity-focused plastic surgery needs to end.

By Julia Malacoff | Mar 15, 2017

No matter what you think about Ivanka Trump, you will most likely agree with the statement that it's a bit over the top to get plastic surgery specifically to look just like her. Strangely, this seems to be a big trend right now, ranging the globe from China to Texas. The Washington Post reported that a plastic surgery practice has opened in China catering specifically to women who want to imitate Ivanka's looks, and ABC profiled two Texan women back in November who have gone under the knife with the intent of becoming more like America's First Daughter.

First off, there's a big difference between being inspired by a celeb and wanting to look exactly like her. "It is incredibly common for patients to use celebrity photos as inspiration for cosmetic procedures—everything from Bella Hadid's nose to Emily Ratajkowski's breasts to Taylor Hill's cheekbones," says Lara Devgan, M.D., M.P.H., a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon in NYC. "I've seen all of those requests in my practice in the past week alone."

In fact, when it comes to figuring out what a patient really wants as their end result, having a well-known point of reference is really helpful for surgeons. "Inspiration from celebrities or models can actually be a very useful way to communicate with patients," says Dr. Devgan. "It's hard to quantify what someone means by 'full and natural breasts' with words alone, so if someone shows me a picture of Kate Hudson versus Anne Hathaway, those two images have two very different meanings." Makes sense.

But there's a clear line."If a patient brought in a photo of Brad Pitt and asked to be transformed, I would suggest they seek psychiatric help and would refuse to operate on them," says Debra Johnson, M.D., president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The refusal to operate on people who want to basically convert themselves into a celeb role model seems to be standard. "My goal is to help patients become a better version of themselves, not someone else entirely," Dr. Devgan agrees. "Every surgeon has his or her own ethical barometers, but I consider it ethically problematic to try to treat a psychological condition with a surgical procedure, and I would not operate on a person whose goal was to morph into someone else."

Not only does it take a lot of effort for these celebs to look camera-ready in the first place, which can set you up for a big disappointment, trying to be exactly like someone else is pretty much never a good idea, whether or not it involves surgery.

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